


Comforting

by trisk



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2020-09-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:48:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26435194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trisk/pseuds/trisk
Summary: theo and keeva spent the night together. keeva's woken up by theo having a nightmare. keeva is not good at being a comforting person, but he sure is trying.





	Comforting

Something woke Keeva with a start. It wasn't his own dream- he could already feel it fading, and it didn't feel like it'd been particularly bad. He stayed still as his eyes opened and he blinked to adjust to the dark room he was in. It took him a moment to remember where he was, but the discarded clothes and armour on the floor around the bed helped bring him back to the moment. He felt ghost touches across his skin as he recalled the feel of Theo's hands and mouth all over his body. He repressed a shiver and took a deep breath.

Then he realized he felt a soft movement from the other side of the bed, and Keeva pushed himself up a little to turn his head, finding the Mandalorian still sharing the bed, though he appeared to be going through it. He'd all but thrown his covers completely off of himself (which was creating a chilly draft Keeva would need to remedy soon), and he was flat on his back, very sweaty and trembling slightly. His eyes were shut tight, and his hands moved around his torso, grasping at something that wasn't there. When Keeva studied his face, he noticed tears streaming down Theo's cheeks as the guy mumbled quietly in response to whatever his nightmare was. Keeva couldn't understand much, but he did catch the words, " _my fault,"_ and he hesitated all movements.

What… was he supposed to do? He wanted to cover Theo up and go back to sleep. But it… also… didn't feel right to just let the guy lay here suffering. The memory of Theo holding him close and gently caressing his back and face after his little moment of panic reinforced Keeva's discomfort at the thought of not doing anything to try to help Theo somehow. 

He carefully moved so he was now on his right side, propped up on an elbow near Theo's head. His hand hovered over various parts of Theo's chest and face, and he reluctantly settled his fingertips on Theo's left hand. 

"Theo," he said, his voice scratchy from sleep. "Theo, hey, man… you gotta wake up." He winced at how lame he sounded as he tried to gently shake Theo awake. Theo muttered something, so Keeva's hand went to Theo's cheek, and he gave him a little pat, trying to raise his voice a bit as he called his name.

It took a bit more coaxing, but he finally got Theo to snap out of it. The guy choked on a gasp as his eyes slowly opened, and he looked straight ahead, then down at himself as he raised his arms a little, then to Keeva, who was giving him, no doubt, an expression of concern.

"Wh-Where-" Theo said weakly. "Where is h-he?"

Keeva wondered if he could guess who Theo was referencing. He bit his lip and caressed Theo's check slowly with his thumb, gently brushing aside some of the tears. "Just me, I'm afraid," he said. "I'm sorry, I thought you maybe needed to be woken up." He didn't know why his voice fell to a whisper. He didn't know what he was doing.

Theo started speaking in Mando'a as he sat up just enough to look around before falling back and rubbing the heels of his hands into his eyes, and Keeva pursed his lips. He let his hand hover over Theo's chest as Theo rubbed at his face. And then he froze when Theo broke into tears. He didn't cry loud or hysterically, but it was full of emotion and something very _sad_ . Keeva didn't know how he knew it felt like a grief kind of sad, something just… _felt_ that way…

Remembering that everything he and Theo did together in this bed was a first for him anyway, Keeva decided to follow Theo's advice yet again and stop thinking so much about his actions beforehand. He placed his hand on one of Theo's on his face, waiting until dark, bleary, tearful eyes met his own, and he shifted his weight a little, hesitantly raising his arm in the universal gesture of the invitation for a hug. 

Keeva was terrified Theo would reject his offer, partly because this was the only idea he had, but thankfully, after a few seconds Theo wrapped his arms around Keeva and buried his face into Keeva's chest. The smuggler adjusted them so that he was comfortable on his back with his arms held close around Theo while his bedmate settled close against him and just cried against his pecs while digging desperate fingertips into his back. Keeva rested his cheek against Theo's head and slowly rubbed his back. He was cold and sweaty, not Keeva’s favourite combination, but for some reason, he wasn’t incredibly bothered by it at the moment either.

At some point, Theo had slowed his sobs and shifted a bit as he lightened his death grip on Keeva. He began a small apology, but Keeva cut him off, saying, "You don't need to apologize for this. I understand." He wasn't sure how much he understood, but he felt like he could relate somehow. Damn, he really wanted a drink right now. Maybe he'd go get his flask.

"Didn't mean to wake you up," Theo said in a quiet tone. Keeva could feel the vibrations of Theo's voice against his sternum, and he resisted a shiver. 

"You didn't. I just woke up anyway," he said, though he wasn't sure how truthful the statement was. Still Theo either believed him or felt inclined to let it drop. He firmly rubbed his hands across Keeva's back and nuzzled his head against his chest lightly.

"Do you want me to distract you?" Keeva asked, attempting to clear some of the sleep from his throat. "I… don't know… how else to be helpful. But I can always talk."

Theo chuckled weakly and intertwined their legs. "Talking is fine. Besides, this husky, sleepy Keeva is kinda sexy."

"Please don't start on that again," Keeva whined. He didn't understand the variety of things Theo said were "sexy" about him, and it honestly made him blush. Theo laughed and he sighed, saying then, "What do you want me to talk about?"

"What do you like to talk about?" he asked after humming a bit.

"Uh… I mean…" He had to think. Usually he just went off on a ramble for one reason or another. He wasn't quite sure what he _liked_ talking about because he simply talked all the time. "I… can always talk about Naboo? Or smuggling jobs I've done. I can talk about… cooking…"

"The irony is that you seem to be at a loss for words," Theo said with a soft laugh. Keeva could still feel his sadness, but it seemed to be settling away from the forefront of his mind.

"You'll have to forgive me, no one's ever asked this of me before," he said with a sniff as he nuzzled his cheek once against Theo's head with a sigh. "Usually I'm already talking, or I'm manipulating people or talking through a situation. I don't usually get requests other than to _stop_."

"Which is understandable, to be fair," Theo teased. His fingers began tracing patterns into Keeva's back. "Tell me something personal."

"Personal? Uh… I… didn't hit my growth spurt until I was sixteen..?"

Keeva actually jumped at the sudden laughter from Theo then, and he pulled his head back to look at the guy with a little bit of alarm. Theo peeked up and laughed again once seeing Keeva's expression. "That's not _personal,_ dingus, that's just a hilarious fact."

"Okay, well, if you're quite finished laughing, perhaps you could be a little more specific," Keeva said with a huff, nuzzling his cheek against Theo's head again to prevent him from seeing Keeva's blush. 

Theo got out a few more chuckles before quieting down and humming as he thought. About a minute passed before he quietly said, "Have you ever lost someone?"

Keeva felt his muscles tense. He had to think again. Usually, he was so guilt-ridden by his faked death and all the people he made think had lost _him_ , he never really reflected on people around him who'd died. He'd only ever really experienced that with the Nordrayns, though that had been at least ten years ago by now.

"A few partners during jobs that got dicey, though that was when I was younger, and I didn't really care about them at all, to be honest," he started with a sigh. He could remember a few deaths before and during his time with Ruben, but he didn't think he could recall even one of their names. "When I was ten, some family friends died. I think that's the closest experience I have to what you're asking of me."

"How'd they die?" Theo asked after a brief hesitation.

"It was around the end of the war, around the point when no one uninvolved with the conflict knew when it would end and it felt like it was going to go on forever. Their family- there was five of them, the mothers and three kids who I’d grown up with essentially for my entire life- decided they couldn't stand being a part of either side anymore. The mothers felt like there was no democracy anymore, nothing left to even fight for. So they left Naboo and tried to take refuge somewhere in neutral space."

"Was Naboo ever even caught up in the crossfire?" Theo asked. "No offense, but as far as planets go, Naboo seems like a pretty good one to be at to get away from the war."

"We were, actually, a handful of times," Keeva said, trying very hard to mask his irritation at the stereotype many Separatists and people from neutral worlds seemed to think about his home. "Nothing incredibly bloody or devastating, but the war did come on planet. The first time the Separatist droids invaded and attacked a planet was on Naboo. But aside from that, Palpatine is _from_ Naboo, which resulted in so many obnoxious political implications, I refuse to get into them. But they, the mothers, were involved with the government and had been reluctantly involved with the war efforts, so they saw plenty more themselves than others did. So after almost three years of the war, they wanted to leave. They were on some planet in the Mandalore sector when the refugee camp they were awaiting for transports at got caught in the middle of a firefight between the Republic, the Separatists, and Death Watch."

Keeva kept his eyes to the ceiling as he listed the last contributors to the massacre that had killed his friends. It was a miracle that he didn't physically react to his own words, though he would admit it was not as tempting as usual, especially considering his company.

"There was an explosion just outside the transports bay. Only one of the mothers and the youngest daughter survived, and when the war was over, the mother got strong-armed by the Empire back into service." He paused, feeling old ire beginning to creep up his throat. "Pretty messed up," he said finally, sighing and surprising himself as he started to gently rub Theo's back again.

"That does sound messed up," Theo said quietly. Keeva could tell he was testing the waters a little. "Is that why you hate Mandalorians so much?"

"No. And I don't just _hate_ all Mandalorians. I've actually known some Mandalorians who weren't half bad. Present company included," he added, and Theo breathed out a laugh and placed a soft kiss on Keeva's collarbone.

"Okay, then is that why you hate _Death Watch_ so much?" Theo clarified.

Keeva hesitated, then sighed. "No. Objectively speaking, I don't even know how much they had to do with that incident. Allegedly, they didn't show up until after the droid army had pretty much done its damage, so it's unlikely they had anything to do with civilian deaths. But I know what other things Death Watch did during the wars…" He hesitated, trying to keep the memory of a tall warrior in blue and white armour holding a blaster to his head repressed as far back as possible. "But… I also know that your group's history is not so black and white."

Theo's fingers were still slowly moving across his skin, though up near his shoulder now. There was another minute of quiet.

"Ask me about something other than Death Watch," Keeva muttered with a sigh, closing his eyes as exhaustion began reminding him that he could be asleep right now if he wanted to be.

A minute later, Theo started moving, and Keeva stayed put, keeping his hands on Theo's skin, as the other man carefully pushed up so that he was hovering over Keeva. Theo seemed to be looking for something in Keeva's expression, though he likely only found tiredness and some residual mixed emotions from the prior conversation. His own face reflected some sadness and curiosity, like he wasn’t too sure of whatever he wanted to say.

"How do you feel about me?" Theo asked then. His voice was a little more than a whisper, and it was still a bit scratchy from crying and sleep. Something about it made swallowing a little troublesome for Keeva.

"I don't know," he said honestly, holding eye contact and hoping his sincerity was clear.

Theo didn't exactly seem satisfied, but he dipped his head down and kissed Keeva anyway. Keeva kissed him back and dragged his hands from Theo's hips up his sides.

He didn't know how long they kissed for, but it was definitely one of the more calm make out sessions they'd had. Keeva realized the way he was currently feeling was _relaxed_. It was unfamiliar, but nice.

Theo dragged his lips down Keeva's jaw and kissed his neck hard before nuzzling his face there and laying back down to cuddle with him. Keeva went along with it, fighting the urge to simply fall asleep as best he could.

"Talk to me about cooking," Theo mumbled against his throat. "That sounds boring enough to put me back to sleep."

Keeva laughed a little and allowed himself to snuggle Theo back with a tired sigh. "Hm, then perhaps you're not ready to hear about my trade secrets and magnificent skills," he teased, feeling a small smile on his lips as Theo scoffed with amusement and mumbled, "sure."

He didn't know how far into talking about various dishes and ingredients and things he got before he fell asleep, but when he woke up again, daylight was intruding through the blinds, and Theo was still comfortably resting in his arms.


End file.
